(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to ski and snowboard bindings and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a snowboard boot binding for a free style snowboard.
(b) Discussion of Prior Art
The snowboard was first developed and patented by an inventor from Michigan in the mid 1960's. The patent was sold to a company called Brunswick-Baldwin who in turn sold the rights to Jake Burton Carpenter who makes a Burton snowboard.
Snowboards didn't catch on until the very early 1980's when Sims Skateboard Company and Burton Snowboard Company saw the possibility of using a "skateboard" on the ski slopes. Since there was already a pool of several million young skateboarders in the United States, the rest is now history as to this new popular outdoor winter sport.
Almost all free style snowboards today resemble a modified mono ski with a ski tip and ski tail turned up and the boot bindings placed on the snowboard sideways a la skateboard style. Snowboarding being a mountain sport and initially riding in snow powder only, it was natural for the user of the snowboard, predominantly a skateboarder, to wear soft winter boats such as a trade brand sold by the name of SORRELS. Plastic bindings, even though many of them broke, seemed to fit the bill for snowboards and even after groomed ski slopes were opened to snowboarders, the plastic bindings and soft winter boots continued to be used. While the snowboard industry is addressing the plastic binding problem by going to a step-in soft boot, the problem of protecting feet and ankles remains.
Attempts to use regular hard shell ski boots have been unsuccessful because the boot, which has a flat sole, is fastened flat to the top of the snowboard and the user is unable to shift his or her weight to the toe or heel of the board when standing sideways on the board when free style boarding. The shifting of the weight to the toe or heel of the board is necessary to control the board and is easy to do in soft winter boots. But soft winter boots provide less control and no protection for injuries to a boarder's feet and ankles. In fact, the term "snowboarders fracture" is now in common usage when referring to a broken ankle by a snowboarder.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,354 to Lion, a combination ski and binding plate assembly is described. In this patent, a front linkage and a rear linkage are used to shift weight from one ski to the other ski. U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,785 to Hottel describes a monoski having releasable bindings. The bindings allow the skier to rotate his or her feet and pivot the feet up and down.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,781 to Dykema et al. describes a snowboard that has a support deck that allows a user to pivot a foot along a longitudinal axis of the board but not side to side in a vertical plane. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,593,974 and 2,564,420 to Brown disclose ski sleds that allow the user's foot to pivot up and down but not side to side. U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,550 to Dennis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,355 to Henry and U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,077 to Dodge describe different types of snowboard bindings but not the features of the subject invention.
None of the above mentioned patents individually or in combination disclose or teach the unique structure, the function, advantages and benefits of the rotational boot binding for a snowboard as described herein.